Planned absence 

If you know that you are going to be absent for any reason, whether it is a course, educational visit or a planned medical appointment, you must in all cases notify this via the Planned Absence form. 

Links to this form are found in the Cover section of the Virtual Staff Room (see classwork tab,) or via the umbrella and red shield icon on the staff HUBpage. 

You must fill out the Planned Absence form even if you don't need any cover, as otherwise you may find yourself allocated cover for someone else!

All planned absence that is known about in advance must be requested by 4:30 Thursday of the previous week.  Cover requests made after this need to have a very good reason for late notification e.g. a hospital appointment and may not be approved. 

Absence due to illness or other unplanned circumstance 

Middle and Senior School teachers and teaching assistants 

Emergency cover is defined as cover requested after 5:30pm the day before it is required, as a result of illness or some other unforeseen circumstance. 

In this case you must email Caz Bischoff at cfb@farlingtonschool.com before 8am on the day of absence with cover needed putting ‘COVER’ in the email subject heading.

You must also call Natalie Briano on 01403 282563 before 9am with reason for absence.

Lower School teachers and teaching assistants 

Should contact Ros Clayson on 07718 206038.  The emergency cover contact window for on-the-day notification is from 6.30am to 8am. This must be by telephone. 

Taken ill during the day 

The Medical Centre is there for your benefit as well as the pupils’, so please feel free to visit as necessary.  The Medical Centre is staffed from 8.00am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday. 

If you need to leave school due to illness or for any other reason, please email cfb@farlingtonschool.com and nb@farlingtonschool.com, putting ‘COVER’ in the email subject heading. Your line manager must be made aware / give permission for you to leave during the school day.

You must sign out at Reception for fire purposes.

Ongoing sickness

If you're going to be absent for more than one day, this is no longer emergency cover but planned cover, so please fill out the Planned Cover request form by 4:30pm the day before. If you do not do this, then we presume you are feeling better and are coming in, and therefore your lessons will not be covered. 

It would really help if you could email Natalie Briano (nb@farlingtonschool.com) when you are back in work so she can get your absence dates correct.

Return to work following sickness

You will need to fill out an Absence Form (in Google Templates under HR) and send to Natalie Briano to sign.  A conversation may need to take place.

You should also email Natalie to let her know you are back in work. If your line manager is unsure whether you seem well enough to return to duties, you will be referred to the Medical Centre.

Setting cover

Cover work must be set electronically and posted in the relevant subject destination of The Learning Platform (Google Classroom). This should include digitised versions of any materials needed and not require any paper resources to be given to students. 

If, however, you are too unwell to set cover yourself, please email your line manager and Caz Bischoff cfb@farlingtonschool.com, informing them both of who will be setting the cover work. 

Cover allocation & room changes

Every teacher and teaching assistant will contribute to covering for absent or unavailable colleagues. This includes lessons, registrations and deregistrations.

The cover picture is an ever-changing one and it has to react to unexpected events. That is why all staff have access to the live cover allocation sheet via the Virtual Staff Room.  You may look at this at any time to see if you are down to be used, but it is essential that all teachers check the live document between by 8.20am every day for any last minute additions or amendments. 

If you are not employed in period 1, please check on arrival.  Please do not check earlier than 8.20am as the sheet is subject to last-minute changes first thing in the morning.

Any room changes will also be on this document.  If you need a temporary room change yourself, please email Caz Bischoff. 

Emergency Cover Standby (ECS)

If you teach Middle or Senior School you can expect to have cover standby.  During this period you will base yourself in the staffroom where you will be able to work. If anyone is missing, or if there has been a cover error, or a teacher has to deal with a safeguarding issue for example, you will be the first person to be used.

In this case, the Receptionist will come into the staffroom and tell you where you are needed. She will record this on the live cover allocation document. This system ensures that we can react promptly and efficiently to a situation where children are unexpectedly left unsupervised. 

Being on cover

Please note that if you are secondary trained, you may be allocated cover in both Middle and Senior Schools (Year 5 to Year 11). Sixth Formers do not require cover teachers, but you do need to set them work on their subject destination.  If you are primary trained, you may be allocated cover in both Middle and Lower Schools (Reception to Year 8). We will do our best to stick to this as far as possible.

Please ensure that you are at your cover lesson on time and for Year 7 and above it is essential that you take an ISAMS register. You should then ask a pupil to show you on their Chromebook the cover message left for them by their teacher, so you know what it is they are supposed to be doing. If you are secondary trained, please bear in mind that younger Middle School children will be less likely to be able to work independently than their older counterparts, so you should not expect that you will necessarily be able to get any work done of your own. This will also be the case for certain practical lessons.